House Limits Military Abortion, Bowing to Right
House Limits Military Abortion, Bowing to Right
On Thursday, a divided House of Representatives voted to restrict access to abortion, bar transgender health services, and limit diversity training for military personnel. This vote could potentially endanger the passage of the annual defence bill because Republicans, pressured by their right flank, loaded the measure with conservative policy dictates.
By a vote of 221 to 213, the House of Representatives decided to repeal a policy of the Pentagon that guaranteed access to abortion for service members regardless of where they were stationed. Republicans were the driving force behind the legislation’s passage, despite the nearly uniform opposition of Democrats.
A motion to prohibit the coverage of gender-affirming hormone therapy and gender-transition surgery inside the military’s health plan was approved by the House of Representatives with a vote of 222 in favour and 211 opposed. Coverage for these procedures is currently only possible with a waiver. And a vote on a Republican proposal to defund the Department of Defense’s efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion was scheduled to take place in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
When taken as a whole, the series of amendments — which ultra-conservative lawmakers had insisted should be put on the floor as a condition for allowing the legislation to move forward — posed the risk of eroding crucial Democratic support for the annual defence policy measure, which was a $886 billion bill that would grant a pay rise of 5.2 percent to military personnel, counter aggressive moves by China and Russia, and establish a special inspector general to oversee U.S. aid to Ukraine.
“I don’t think I’ve ever not voted for an N.D.A.A,” said Representative Pete Aguilar, a Democrat from California and the No. 3 Democrat, using the initials for the National Defence Authorization Act, which is one of the few pieces of legislation recognised as a must-pass item to come before Congress each year. “I’m a no.”
The incident took place in the midst of an extremely contentious debate in the House regarding the annual defence policy bill, which is typically an event that is supported by members of both parties. However, this week, the proposal has instead become a battleground in a political culture war that has been inflamed by the Republican Party.
During heated exchanges on the floor, Republicans accused Democrats and the administration of former Vice President Joe Biden of attempting to transform the Pentagon into a centre of radical progressivism. Democrats, on the other hand, accused Republicans of attempting to use the Defence Department to achieve an extreme agenda of rolling back the rights of women, people of colour, and transgender individuals.
“It is this administration that has turned the Department of Defence into a social-engineering experiment wrapped in a uniform,” said Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from the state of Texas. “The American people I’ve talked to back home do not want a weak military; they don’t want a woke military; they don’t want rainbow propaganda on bases; and they don’t want to pay for troops’ sex changes.”
Democrats were particularly incensed that the abortion ban was included in the plan, and they issued a warning that they would not be able to approve the defence bill as long as such a policy was present.
Representative Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts, who serves as the Democratic whip, made these remarks during a floor speech. “The MAGA majority is using our defence bill to get one stop closer to the only thing they really care about: a nationwide abortion ban,” she stated.
To pass the proposal through the House of Representatives without the cooperation of Democrats, the Republicans will need to garner support from an overwhelming majority of their own caucus members. They cannot afford to lose more than four of their own members’ votes.
It is uncommon, but not unheard of, for the House to approve a defence bill along party lines. However, it has happened before. In the summer of 2019, House Democrats were successful in doing so, but with a significantly larger majority. In addition, it was unclear whether the Republicans would be able to rally that much support behind their candidate.
Even if Republicans are successful in forcing the bill through the House of Representatives, the measures that they have added have no chance of being approved by the Senate, which is now controlled by Democrats and is scheduled to take up its own version of the legislation the following week. As Congress has done on a yearly basis for the past more than six decades, passing a bill requires both chambers to come to an agreement on its terms and pass it into law. If the dispute between the chambers drags on for too long, there is a danger that this goal will not be achieved.
The abortion proposal was deemed unacceptable by Democrats, particularly in light of a decision made by the Supreme Court in the last year that overturned abortion rights. This decision prompted a flurry of activity on the part of several states to impose bans and restrictions on the operation.
Democrat Mikie Sherill of New Jersey, who is also a Navy veteran, stated that the clause proposed by the Republicans “puts servicewomen and military families’ lives at risk by denying the basic right to travel for health care that is no longer available where they are stationed.” Only one Democrat, Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, voted in favour of repealing the abortion access policy that the Department of Defence had in place.
